Upright vacuum cleaners and extractors have become increasingly popular over recent years. Both floor care apparatus generally incorporate a nozzle assembly that rides on wheels over the floor surface to be cleaned. A canister assembly is pivotally mounted to the nozzle assembly. The canister assembly includes an operating handle that is manipulated by an operator to move the floor care apparatus to and fro across the floor. The canister assembly also includes a dirt collector that traps dirt and debris while substantially clean air is exhausted by an electrically operated fan that is driven by an onboard motor. It is this fan and motor arrangement that generates the drop in air pressure necessary to provide the desired cleaning action.
Many upright vacuum cleaners and extractors also provide a cleaning wand that is manipulated by the hand and used to clean areas typically not reachable or generally regarded as cleanable with the suction inlet of the nozzle assembly. Such apparatus are also equipped with multiple position valves that allow the operator to convert the apparatus between floor cleaning through the suction inlet of the nozzle assembly and special task cleaning through the inlet opening of the wand. Such valves must be able to seal off either the suction inlet or the inlet opening. In order to allow for efficient cleaning the valves must provide a good seal and, accordingly, they must be manufactured to precise tolerances. Since the valves must precisely seal two different pathways, the valves are relatively expensive to produce. The present invention avoids this problem by providing a valve which is only utilized to selectively seal off the suction inlet. A separate sealing element is provided for sealing off the inlet opening of the wand when the wand is not in use.